Oscar Piastri: McLaren on the cusp of helping me win my first grand prix

The young driver has seen his team transform from struggling to score points to securing podium finishes, a testament to McLaren's remarkable turnaround this term.

Since the significant upgrades introduced in Miami, McLaren has emerged as Red Bull's most consistent challenger.

Lando Norris's ascent to the top step of the podium post-upgrades and Piastri's maiden F1 podium in Japan are notable highlights.

Piastri also secured his first-ever win in a truncated Sprint race in Qatar, further showcasing his potential and McLaren's growing competitiveness.

Despite these achievements, missed opportunities have marred McLaren's season. Piastri was denied a front-row start at Imola due to a grid drop for impeding Kevin Magnussen and missed out on a prime position in Austria due to a contentious track limits violation.

At Silverstone, Piastri was circulating second behind Norris, but McLaren's strategy decision not to double-stack its drivers ended his hopes of clinching a win.

Reflecting on these near misses, Piastri concedes that the bitter moments have been challenging but takes solace in the fact that McLaren's recent blunders are not due to repeating the same mistakes.

Piastri is optimistic about McLaren's future, noting that the team has "nailed the hardest part" in Formula 1 by building a competitive car.

He believes that the focus now must be on capitalising on this progress with added victories.

"I think [we're] definitely ready to do it," said Piastri, when asked if he's getting closer to winning a grand prix.

"I think the kind of good thing but kind of bad thing is it's never been the same thing that's prevented us from winning.

"Today we made a wrong call, Imola we had an issue in qualifying with traffic, Austria... well...

"Yeah, so I guess it's a good thing that it's not been a repeated error or mistake.

"But yeah, I feel like there's been a good handful now, I think on both sides of the garage, where we felt like we could have won the race.

"I think we've got the hardest part nailed, I think we've got an incredibly quick car, we just need to capitalise on using it."